Break the Boundary - off-road hand cycling first in MTB race series

Third round of WA XCO State Series to feature first ORHC category in country

Upcoming ORHC beginners clinics for new riders

The upcoming third round of the WA Cross Country (XCO) State Series mountain bike event on Sunday, May 29 is set to be a history-making event for Australian mountain biking.

It will feature the first off-road hand cycling (ORHC) category in any Australian state or national MTB series round and competitors will contest the event on the country’s first trails built specifically for hand cycles.

Until now off-road hand cycling in Australia has largely revolved around the exploits of one man, Andrew Liddawi.

Liddawi is the driving force behind Break the Boundary, a not-for-profit organisation, information resource and website that aims to connect people with disabilities and mobility issues to the possibilities of off-road hand cycling.

In 2013 he made a little history of his own when he contested a single stage of WA’s famous Cape to Cape (C2C) stage race. He returned to C2C in 2014 to contest three stages, and in 2015 completed the full 220km event with fellow WA native and first-time C2C’er Conor McGrory in tow.

Liddawi is the inspiration for the new hand-cycling category and was involved in the design of the new trails, which are located at Cycletrek Bike Shop & Mountain Bike Park facility in Lowden, WA, otherwise known as Kambarang.

2016 Western Australian Schools Cross Country Mountain Bike Championships

Thursday 4th and Friday 5th August - a fantastic and exciting event for schools students of all ages!

In huge news for Junior Mountain Biking in WA, for the first time in over 10 years we will have a school mountain bike state championships.

As part of the implementation of the WA Mountain Bike Strategy, WAMBA is extremely proud to be supporting Rock and Roll Mountain Biking with the 2016 Western Australia Schools Cross Country (XCO) Mountain Biking Championships to be conducted on Thursday 4th and Friday 5th August 2016.

Aims of the initiative: • Support and increase mountain bike participation in young people • Increase participation of young people at mountain bike events • Provide a talent ID program for the WA Mountain Bike High Performance pathway

If you are a junior mountain biker, have a talk to your teacher about representing your school; if you are a teacher and you want your school involved, stay tuned for more details. Info pack and entries will open very soon!

And welcome to WAMBA's new President, Alex Wade. He has been a member of the WAMBA committee since 2012 and actively riding in the Perth Hills since 2001. Aside from a strong passion for our sport, he also brings an extensive managerial experience (particularly in relation to management of contracts, contractors and personnel) and has an extensive background in commercial law. This, coupled with a clear vision of how WAMBA and WestCycle can continue to work together, will allow him to work with the Committee to achieve the best possible outcomes for WA mountain bikers.

Success from "Ladies Come and Try XC Racing" Event

As part of the implementation of the WA Mountain Bike Strategy, WAMBA, in partnership with WestCycle and Perth Mountain Bike Club, hosted a "Ladies Come and Try XC Racing" event on Saturday over the weekend.

This event coincided with Round 2 of the XC State Series held in Kalamunda on Sunday. The riders were provided the opportunity to complete the race course lap and receive race guidance from some of our current and awesome female XC racers - Toni Burbidge, Stefanie Van Amerongen and Jo Bennett from Kalamunda Cycles.